Application environments are characterized by one or more independent computer systems in one or more administrative domains that are loosely coupled by networks and cooperate to provide computing resources for a global application. The extent and capabilities of each administrative domain are usually determined by the network boundaries of each distinct supplier or service provider.
For example, to break down complexity for a web-based communication network, an application environment could comprise a multi-component system, where each component is an administrative domain. The components can include a web server component, an application component, a database component, among others. The application environment is descriptive of many web shopping systems, but is also applicable to local networks servicing specific business enterprises supporting a specific need, such as application environments set up specifically for processing payroll.
Previously, application environments were optimized according to a single and static condition, e.g., a peak load condition. As such, the application environment would be originally configured to ensure operation even under peak load conditions. In particular, each of the components of the application environment would be configured accordingly to contain the correct ratio of computational resources (e.g., CPUs, database storage resources, networking resources, etc.) as compared to the other components under peak load conditions. Moreover, the application environment would be optimized to contain the maximum number of computational resources.
As such, a specific problem in the prior art application network is that dedicated computational resources (e.g., computer processing units (CPUs), memory, etc.) would go unused thereby wasting usable computational resources. Since peak load conditions may occur infrequently, the application environment was not configured to efficiently use its computational resources some of the time.
Another problem associated with the prior art is the inability of the application environment to easily meet changing demands or an increasing number of users. A change in focus or demand would necessarily change the optimization parameters for each of the components in the application environment. For example, in the web shopping scenario, if an application environment was originally configured to support shopping for appliances via a single image and text interface, the number of resources in the application environment would change if the focus of the application environment were subsequently changed to support shopping for appliances via a video and text interface. Also, if user demand shifted from supporting one line of products to a sudden demand for two or more lines of products, the number of resources in the application environment may have to change to support the new demand. In another scenario, the number of resources needed would also change if the focus of the application environment is changed, such as, when changing from an environment supporting retail to one supporting scientific research. Similarly, if the number of users increased beyond that envisioned under peak load conditions, the original configuration would be unable to handle the newer peak load conditions.
Thus a need exists for ensuring efficient use of computational resources when meeting quality of service objectives in an application environment. Another need exists for effectively supporting changing demands on the application environment.